LAPEROUSE

We are currently celebrating the Macquarie Bicentennary with major exhibitions, eg. State Library (see link)  So why wasn’t this work on the Macquarie Tower done before the Bicentennary celebrations?    Why is there no information displayed for visitors?   Why is there no marketing to attract visitors?   Another case of Fawlty Towers.

Article about the Tower from Sydney Morning Herald 15 November1930, page 11.

The Macquarie Watchtower is the earliest known surviving, sandstone tower building in Australia. The Macquarie Watchtower has long been recognised as a picturesque landmark on the headland, which is much photographed.

The Macquarie Watchtower is the oldest surviving watchtower in Australia, the oldest building in Botany Bay and the only known tower specifically constructed for colonial border protection and the prevention of smuggling. It became the first Customs outstation in Australia in 1829 and operated as a Customs Station until 1903. It is also a rare surviving symbol of the vexatious issue of customs barriers between the colonies, which was one of the main factors underlying the push for Federation.

It’s 5.13pm and John Cann is making his final exit from the La Perouse Snake Pit in Cann Park, La Perouse.

The first crowds today saw local NSW MP, Michael Daley, and Federal MP, Peter Garrett, who came to make a special presentation.  They reminded everyone of the significance of the contribution that the Cann Family had made to our knowledge of Australian reptiles and in helping to save lives with the development of antivenoms, and education on deadly snakes.

The crowds had dwindled by the final show of the afternoon but John was still in top form showing off the Python; in command of the Goanna; taking around George Senior’s Army hat; being photographed with family (including sister Noreen who featured as a baby in this newsreel: Film Clip of George Cann and son in 1938.   ) and the final pack up - ‘off into the sunset’.  Let’s hope in the future we get to see some of these magnificent reptiles and John giving occasional talks at a Reptile Centre on Bare Island.

LINK TO CANN FAMILY WEBSITE

 Southern Courier - 16 Nov 2009  by Leesa Smith

A highly dangerous quantity of a toxic chemical has leaked from the Huntsman plant in Botany.

Almost 700kg of ethylene oxide was emitted on October 28 as a result of a production malfunction at the chemical manufacturing plant.

The glycol ethers plant was shut down by the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water and reopened on Friday after a thorough investigation. This follows a propylene oxide leak in another of the company’s plants in early October.

DECCW deputy director-general Joe Woodward said the two leaks in one month raised questions about their ongoing attention to pollution control.

He said Huntsman had notified the department of a minor incident on the day it occurred, but the extent of the emission was not known until late the following day when more information was supplied by the company.

“The release of this level of ethylene oxide into the atmosphere is concerning,” he said. “As soon as DECCW was made aware of the incident we acted to make sure the plant was not operating to stop any further emissions.”

UNSW professor of toxicology and occupational health Chris Winder said the leak was an extraordinarily large amount and that the chemical can cause cancer and damage to DNA.

“It is a highly reactive chemical that is used in sterilisation processes for things like medical supplies,” he said. “It penetrates plastic - so that gives you an idea of how reactive it is.”

Huntsman manufacturing manager Earl Morritt said although any leak was a bad leak, the chemical was in a very low concentration.

“There are no ill effects in the surrounding communities,” he said. “The quantity from a neighbourhood perspective (gives) no real cause for alarm.”

He said corrective measures were being put in place to prevent future problems including implementing an earlier warning system.

A long-term Huntsman employee, who did not want to be named, told the Courier the leak hadn’t been detected for two hours.

“By that stage we had leaked and contaminated 750kg of ethylene oxide in the environment,” he said.

He said the disaster could have been avoided if the low-flow alarm that malfunctioned five years ago had been fixed.

But Mr Morritt said the alarm had been made redundant in 2004 because it was not reliable and responded to only one of the plant’s 50 products.

Randwick City Council has advertised vacancies on its Advisory Committees - all residents/ratepayers and workers in Randwick are welcome to apply - click the links below for details:

1. Cultural & Linguistic Diversity:

2. Older People

3. Public Art and Cultural

4. Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander

5. Access

Local identity and well- known Australian entertainer, Vic Simms, gave a lively talk to visitors at the Laperouse Museum. Vic spoke about growing up in La Perouse and displayed ochre, boomerangs, spears and clap sticks. In 2001, Vic won a Deadly Award for his outstanding achievements as an entertainer. His LP recording, The Loner, is recognised as one of the greatest collections of protest songs produced in Australia. More recently he featured at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games opening ceremony concerts, at Woodford’s Indigenous Festival, and gave the Welcome to Country at the Sydney Town Hall for the 2000 Olympics.  Wikipedia Link and for those who missed this talk tune into this feature which was produced by the ABC. Link

The Department of Environment and Climate Change tests the water quality at 131 sites in Sydney, Hunter and Illawarra and then ranks the beaches 1 to 41 with 1 being the cleanest.  Full Report for Botany Bay.  Overall Summary.

 The rankings show that water quality for Yarra Bay and particularly Frenchman’s is very poor at 22 and 37 respectively.

  Congwong Bay 1/1/09

The rankings for swimming sites for Summer 2007-8 in Botany Bay and the Lower Georges.

Environmentally Speaking is published 4 times each year.

14    Summer 2007

13    Spring 2007

12    Winter 2007

11    Autumn 2007

10    Summer 2006

9    Spring 2006

8   Winter 2006

7    Autumn 2006

6    Summer 2005

5    Spring 2005

4   Winter 2005

3  Autumn 2005

2  Summer 2004

1  Spring 2004